Patna is likely to be the first Indian city to have a monorail service to ease its increasing traffic congestion.
Railway Minister Lalu Prasad, who arrived in Patna on Wednesday night after a week-long foreign trip to Singapore and Malaysia to explore the business possibilities for Indian Railways, felt that introduction of a world-class monorail service, in line with those of Singapore and Kuala Lumpur, could ease the growing traffic congestion problem in Patna.
Sharing his experience of travelling through the popular monorail services in both the cities with the media, the railway minister said he was serious about introducing similar services and sought the necessary cooperation from the state government.
"I have already asked IRCON (the railway's construction arm) to prepare a feasibility report and conduct necessary surveys to bring a monorail service to connect Patna with Bakhtiarpur, about 20 km away, through several routes," Lalu said.
Asked about the possible routes, the minister said he wanted the service to pass through the city's main junctions and crowded areas like Patna Junction, Ashok Rajpath, Bailey Road and Gandhi Maidan before travelling through Digha, Danapur and Phulwarisharif to reach Bakhtiarpur within about 30 minutes.
Lalu, however, made it clear that his dream was still in the preliminary stages, but said that his ministry was expected to start work immediately after receiving a feasibility report as well as a green signal from IRCON.
Lalu said, work for transforming the Patna railway junction into a world-class station along with 22 others across the country was on in full swing and was expected to be completed by next year as scheduled.
